Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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film is to argue that while it utilises cinéma vérité techniques, through which the images
are assumed to speak for themselves, “the strong private mythology that is such a
prominent part in [A State of Siege] is again at work […], shaping and cutting the
experience of Niki and Puhi’s life to his own pattern”. 533 In other words, the film
claims authenticity, but those claims are suspect. Bilbrough’s essay examines “how a
viewer’s response to Puhi and Niki is shaped by the film’s codes rather than sheerly by
the subjects themselves” and argues that the absence of voice-over narration and a
minimum of interviewing “seeks to efface the filmmakers’ presence in order to achieve
a maximum ‘window on reality’ effect”. 534 Bilbrough’s critique sets up a straw man as
its target since Ward had never denied his own intervention. As he noted in his thesis:
“In some sequences, the presence of the crew has been acknowledged in the finished
film. This is seen in the occasional comments that the subjects make to the film crew in
the course of everyday events. By including these, I have tried to suggest something of
the relationship between us; and by so doing show the situation that this film has
evolved in”. 535
Bilbrough goes on to argue that, “the decision to use a shooting style that simulated the
natural low-light conditions of Puhi’s kitchen is an extension of this ideology. The
cinematography’s reflection of the subjects’ physical environment becomes a code,
signalling to the viewer the credibility of the film’s account, of its adherence to
actuality”. 536 Again this oversimplifies Ward’s approach. As discussed earlier in the
chapter, the decision to use naturalistic lighting was motivated as much by practicalities
(such as the limited budget, the unwillingness of the subjects to have their environment
transformed and the impracticality of setting up light-stands in the limited space of
Puhi’s kitchen) as by aesthetic considerations. Ward was well aware that using
naturalistic lighting would have a particular effect in the film – that of adding
atmosphere and of allowing the viewer time to explore the face of the subject - but he
was not using this style of lighting simply to promote a kind of naïve realism.
Bilbrough implies that Ward sincerely believes in “a perceivable objectivity”, but in his
dissertation, Ward states, to the contrary, that he does not believe it is possible to be
objective; all he has tried to do is “to project [Puhi and Niki’s] situation as honestly as I
533 Bilbrough, "In Spring One Plants Alone: Telling the Story," 18.
534 Bilbrough, "In Spring One Plants Alone: Telling the Story," 14.
535 Ward, “A Documented Account of the Making of In Spring One Plants Alone,” Introduction.
536 Bilbrough, "In Spring One Plants Alone: Telling the Story," 14-15.